Drug tourism

From ArticleWorld

Drug tourism is travel for the purpose of obtaining or using drugs for personal use that are unavailable or illegal in one's home jurisdiction. This would include crossing a national border to obtain drugs over the counter that are not sold in one's own country, or traveling to another country in order to obtain or use narcotics that are illegal in one's own country, or even traveling from one U.S. State to another in order to buy alcohol or tobacco more easily.Drug tourism has many legal implications, and persons engaging in it sometimes risk prosecution for drug smuggling or other drug-related charges in their home jurisdictions or in the jurisdictions they are visiting. The act of traveling for the purpose of buying or using drugs is itself a criminal offense in some jurisdictions. The most widespread recreationally used drug throughout human history has been alcohol. Beer and wine were produced in India and Persia and in the Mediterranean before recorded history. Popular theory seems to agree that people first consumed and enjoyed the effect of overripe fruit, which would contain some alcohol.Many other substances were once commonly used as recreational drugs, but fell from favor for various reasons. Islam forbids the consumption of alcoholic beverages, and many religions discourage the recreational use of drugs. In the 20th century some Western countries, notably the United States, have criminalized the use of many recreational drugs, and used diplomatic, economic and military pressure on other countries to do the same.The trade of illegal drugs has become even more serious to various nations and governmental organizations in recent times. Seeing no end in the trade of drugs in sight, the United Nations has expressed its frustration with the trade by calling it a "global problem." In jurisdictions where legislation restricts or prohibits the sale of certain popular drugs, it is common for an illegal drugs trade to develop. For example, the United States Congress has identified a number of controlled substances which each have corresponding illegal drug trades. Because of physical dependence, the high cost of illegal addictive drugs is one of the major causes of crime. Some estimates placed the value of the global trade in illegal drugs at around four hundred billion U.S. dollars in the year 2000. Major consumer countries include the United States and European nations, although consumption is world-wide.

Illegal drugs

can be broken down into two major classes: those extracted from plants, such as cannabis and cocaine, and those synthesized in a laboratory, such as MDMA and methamphetamine. For the former, substantial farming is needed for mass production; for the second class, access to chemical precursors is most important.Some drugs are produced locally, either because they can be grown surreptitiously or manufactured with common ingredients. In other cases drugs are illegally imported. Regardless of the source, high demand for illegal drugs on the black market leads to the formation of complex illegitimate production, smuggling, and distribution networks that span national borders and generate billions of dollars of revenue. According to the United Nations, the Global Drug Trade is estimated to be worth over 300 Billion U.S. Dollars.The demand for illegal drugs is highest inside of state prisons and correctional facilities. The "National Institute of Justice and FBI reports cite that 85% of those incarcerated in local, state and federal facilities are substance abusers, 65-75% incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses. We can distinguish international trafficking, which involves smuggling across borders, and distribution within the demand country. With regard to crossing borders we can distinguish: avoiding border checks, such as by small ships, small aircraft, and through overland smuggling routes, submitting to border checks with the drugs hidden in a vehicle, between other merchandise, in luggage, in or under cloths, inside the body, etc.

Amsterdam

is a popular destination for drug tourists, due to the Dutch government's acceptance of marijuana use and possession. Other popular destinations include Southeast Asia and South America. Drug tourism thrives because legislation controlling the sale, possession, and use of drugs varies dramatically from one jurisdiction to another. Drug trafficking carries the death penalty in some countries. This sign posted at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport warns passengers disembarking in Taiwan of the potential consequences.